OTTUMWA —
Some kids dread it, while others are thrilled. It’s time to start heading back to school in southern Iowa.
“Our first day of classes is Aug. 20 — we’re talking three weeks,” said Oskaloosa Superintendent Russ Reiter.
He doesn’t think children will have too much trouble getting into the swing of things.
“A lot of kids are already back at it. The band students are here now football is going to have a camp next week,” he said. “On the 13th, we start getting ready for orientation of new teachers. We’ve already started meetings this [week] for support staff. Today was really one of our first days. We have a lot of training for new computer stuff and so on.”
It almost has to be done early, he said. Tasks that are now computerized need to be learned before students arrive, not that day.
The one project that may be cutting it a little close is the project to create an even better educational space at Webster Elementary School. Reiter said they have all hands on deck.
“We’re working hard to refinish the inside of Webster elementary,” he said, adding that there will be several programs housed in there — not all of which are specifically Oskaloosa school district programs.
There will be three different preschools working to integrate into one efficient unit with a single board of directors, one curriculum one set of teacher criteria for 4-year-old preschool. And it saves the community money on basics like phone service, Internet access and maintenance. The YMCA day care program will also be housed at Webster.
At Evans Middle School in the Ottumwa school district, the custodians and new principal Dave Harper say the inside of the building is ready to go — leaving staff with one worry.
Buses pick up and drop off students on the street in front of the school. On Tuesday, that street was completely torn up, with piles of dirt as tall as a sixth-grader.
Students report on Aug. 22. The principal said he has asked, and work crews assure him the street work will be done by Aug. 17. That’s good for kids, but teachers may have to park out back. They start reporting to work on Aug. 16.
And just in case the project were to run a little long, said Ottumwa Superintendent Davis Eidahl, he asked Jerry Kjer, the transportation director for the district, to work out a contingency plan with Harper.
“All the district administrators start today,” said Eidahl. “We’ll be ensuring everything is ready for teachers and students. Teachers who are new to the district report Aug. 13. As an administrative team, we’ll give them three extra days to talk with them about our goals and visions, our priorities and initiatives and practices.”
For the Eddyville-Blakesburg-Fremont school district, as the superintendent walks through the buildings, he too is planning to remove obstacles to education.
“Here’s what I’m telling you. I think it’s a state issue. There are a lot of schools in the state that are not air-conditioned,” said Dean Cook.
The kids will be back on Aug. 22.
“These buildings get so darn hot,” said Cook. “This weather has created such a problem. I’m trying to get air-conditioning installed at the high school between now and the start of school. I’ve already talked to the electrician and the guy who’s putting them in, and they say they can have it done.”
The elementary school has geothermal heating and cooling, but that’s only designed to cool on a 95-degree day. So it may be cooler, but the system is not working as well as Cook would like.
“And just think of these [school] buses going down the road. They’re not air-conditioned. This year, it’s been so hot.”
There are students who can spend a lot of time on a bus in a district with so many far out rural areas. The drivers can be on those buses for hours, too.
It’s not coming to school that’s on Cook’s mind. It’s when he lets students out in the afternoon into roasting hot buses. There have been times he’s felt it necessary to let school out because of a day above 90. His worry, he said, is a continuation of these 100-degree days
“And how is this going to affect [athletic] practices? Let’s not have any kids get hurt because of this,” he said.
Local News
Related Photos
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Evans Middle School is all set on the inside — it’s the street where buses drop students off that has administrators a little concerned. School starts across the region in about three weeks. Mark Newman/The Courier
Summer break winding down
School districts preparing for start of classes
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